Eating Breakfast Out

I know that this blog has never really settled down to being one thing or another.

Do I review recipes here? Yes.

Do I post about knitting? Most definitely.

Do I share bits from my life? On occasion.

Do I review local restaurants? Well... let's just say that I aspire to be a reviewer, but lack the credentials and the photography skills.

Today, we went to IKEA for brunch. The Swedish-American breakfast is a great deal at $2.99 and includes scrambled eggs, hash browns, 2 sausages, and 2 Swedish pancakes (which are thin and chewy and delicious with lingonberry jam.) DH said the coffee was OK. My older son got the Swedish waffles and said they were better than American ones. The croissant was delicious.

Yesterday we hit Denny's for brunch after a leaking toilet rendered our kitchen unusable for a few hours. I had the chicken fried steak skillet which was deliciously greasy and salty and exactly what I needed to alleviate the stress. The rest of my family was baffled by my sudden return to my Midwestern roots, but they each tried a piece of my steak and admitted that it was yummy. DH got the veggie omelet platter and said it was perfectly fine. Younger son got the Lumberjack Slam, which consisted of ham, eggs, bacon, sausages, hash browns, and two large pancakes. The pancakes were a lovely surprise; the rest of the meal was good. Older son got a hamburger and fries and fussed about the bun being greasy. (You can't win 'em all.)

The day before yesterday, I met some old friends at a local diner. We'd just gotten a couple inches of snow under an inch of ice, so we walk/slithered instead of risking the roads. I got a scrambled egg, bacon, hash browns (do you see a theme here?) and the daily special, which was a giant blueberry muffin sliced in half and griddled in butter. It was nutso good. My friends got nearly the same, except that T. got a corn muffin and R. opted for whole wheat toast with marmalade.

Tomorrow I aim to eat breakfast at home.

A Very Happy Birthday to Sir Isaac Newton

So we went to see the in-laws for Christmas. (Yes, we do celebrate.)

My FIL is a superior cook but has an odd aversion to vegetables, so I volunteered to make a side dish of green beans and a salad.

Here's the menu, in full:
1) caramelized liver mousse with toasted hazelnuts and macerated cherries
2) avocado-blood orange salad (not the one I made)
3) pheasant salmis and my green beans
4) cheese course, featuring Cabot clothbound cheddar, Truffle Tremor, Moses Sleeper, and Gorgonzola Dolce
5) my salad, which was an ingredient-limited riff on a roasted cranberry and delicata squash salad with candied pecans and mixed lettuce.
6) fruit course
7) Bakewell Tart with coffee

We also went through a few bottles of wine but I forgot to write down names!

Earlier in the day - before opening presents - we'd had tea and sticky buns.

And a lovely time was had by all. I hope your 25th was equally peaceful, festive, and delicious.